Restaurant roof repair in Berkeley, CA: grease-damaged membrane, leaking exhaust fan curbs and wet insulation fixed around kitchen and dining hours.
Property Types We Roof | Berkeley, CA
Kitchen exhaust fans are hard on a restaurant roof. Grease vapor condenses around the fan and drips onto the membrane, and over time it softens or breaks down many roofing materials. On a restaurant in Berkeley, CA, the flashing around the exhaust curb is often the first thing to fail: the membrane gets gummy, the seams let go, and water runs down the curb into the kitchen ceiling or the dining room. Patching over a greasy membrane does not last because nothing bonds to grease. Food trucks and catering kitchens with rooftop exhaust have the same problem on a smaller scale.
Before the visit, tell us where the leaks show up and which fans and units are on the roof. Up top, we check the exhaust curb flashing, the curb framing, the fan housing, nearby HVAC curbs, seams and drains. A cracked fan housing can leak too, and that is your hood service company's job. If water is coming in now, we can install temporary protection, including nights, weekends and holidays. Wet electrical goes to an electrician.
Before anything is priced, you get photos of each curb and the grease damage around it.Grease-soaked membrane has to be cleaned or cut out before any repair can bond. Our rooftop curb and equipment repair starts by checking how far the grease damage goes and whether the wood curb behind the flashing is still solid. If the fan has to be lifted to reach the curb, your hood or HVAC contractor handles that. Soft wood gets replaced, and the curb gets raised if it is too short for proper flashing. Any structural question about the curb or the fan support goes to an engineer.
The fan housing often hides rot at the base of the curb, so we may need the fan lifted before we can see it. The repair method depends on the roof: PVC holds up better to grease than many other membranes and can be heat-welded, while other roofs need their own compatible flashing products. Wherever grease has damaged the membrane, we cut back to clean, sound material. We also recommend a grease containment system at the fan so the new roof does not suffer the same fate.
A curb that has leaked for a while usually leaves wet insulation around it. Our insulation and cover board replacement removes it back to dry material, confirmed with a few small core cuts. Each cut is sealed the same day and the kitchen or dining room below is protected. If the deck is rusted or soft, an engineer reviews it. A larger wet area means a bigger opening, more protection inside and possibly a different work schedule, and the estimate shows all of that. Wet insulation over a kitchen also tends to stay wet, since warm, humid air from cooking keeps feeding it.
Equipment work usually comes before the final flashing. Our penetration and curb flashing work is scheduled around your hood or HVAC contractor, who lifts or disconnects the fan and reconnects it afterward. We keep service access clear. New insulation can raise the roof surface and shorten the curb, so we check heights before pricing. Until the permanent flashing is done, the curb gets a secure, labeled temporary seal.
Restaurants have tight windows: prep in the morning, service at lunch and dinner, deliveries in between. Our occupied building reroofing plan shows which parts of the kitchen and dining room sit under each day's work, when the crane sets up and how debris comes down. Your manager decides when we can work, what gets covered and whether any area closes. We avoid service hours for the noisy and dusty work. Material and debris stay away from the kitchen door, the delivery entrance and any outdoor seating.
If we open the roof and find the wet area runs over the walk-in or the dining room, we stop, show your manager and agree on protection before going further. Lifting a fan may need a separate visit from the hood contractor, and we schedule around that. Every opening is sealed before the crew leaves, and the daily notes say what is permanent, what is temporary and what is still waiting on another trade.
Restaurant roofs around Berkeley and Oakland cover kitchens, dining rooms and delivery areas with different hours and different equipment. For restaurants near downtown Berkeley, we plan visits around service hours and deliveries. It helps to know which fans and units are on the roof, when the hood was last cleaned and where the leaks appear inside. Past repair invoices tell us which curbs have been patched before. If the fans were replaced recently, the installer's notes help too, since new fans are sometimes set on old curbs that were never re-flashed.
In West Berkeley and Emeryville, many restaurants share older buildings with other tenants, and the kitchen exhaust may sit on a roof that also covers an office or a shop next door. Berkeley's long dry season followed by heavy winter rain means a grease-softened curb often holds through summer and then leaks in the first storm. We inspect every curb and fan and write the repair plan for your restaurant. The plan covers the grease problem as well as the leak, because fixing one without the other just starts the clock again.
Grocery store roofs with deli and bakery exhaust see the same grease damage. For a restaurant, the closeout package includes photos of the rebuilt exhaust curb, the new flashing, any replaced insulation and the grease containment if installed, plus a roof plan marking them. Temporary repairs are labeled, and anything left for the hood contractor or another trade is listed separately.
Hotel roofs often have restaurant kitchens too, with the added complication of guest rooms nearby. For your restaurant, the roof plan gives your manager a clear reference. Ask your hood cleaning company to check the roof around the fan at every service and empty the grease containment. If a leak shows up later, compare it with the roof plan and send us photos so we can respond quickly.
Tell us where the leaks show up and which fans are on the roof. We will inspect the exhaust curbs and send a photo report with a clear repair plan.
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